Materia-Verse: Esuna
by Katreal
Summary: Summon materia is the least understood type of materia, but even they have rules. A mission to the Icicle Area leaves Zack Fair with more questions than answers.


Materia-verse: Zack

-Spirit Fox-

Zack didn't hate much.

Paperwork was near the top of his list, along with the creepy professor in charge of the science department, but other than those Zack couldn't come up with anything else off the top of his head. Usually.

Right now, staring at a monster that was literally nothing but a gaping mouth ringed by teeth the size of his forearm; he was considering adding this thing to his list. The rest of its body was made up of a waving knot of tentacles, and those things were poisonous.

Usually, being a Second Class SOLDIER meant that he didn't have to worry about status effects all that much. Sure they slowed him down during the battle, but once adrenalin levels returned to normal the mako made quick work of them.

Judging from the searing pain in his arm where one of those tentacles had grazed him, this guy's poison would be much more troublesome. Zack gritted his teeth and used his ShinRa issued longsword to block an incoming swipe; the force sent him sliding back in the knee-high snow, stopping just short of slamming him into the cliff wall.

When the mission said Icicle Area, Zack had been expecting a quick visit to the skii resort town, making short work of the fugitive, and then spending a leisurely day snowboarding to his heart's content while waiting for his transport. Of course he'd gotten the snowboarding in—he'd had to snatch some kid's ride when the fugitive panicked and tried to escape down the snowy mountains on some purloined skiis.

That was how he'd ended up here, in the middle of gods-forsaken snowfields, with a cowering lump of frozen scientist some few feet to his right. He was supposed to return this jerk alive, which was the only reason Zack was risking fighting this monster. He'd read about these things, but never actually run up against one before. If he didn't have to deal with Mr. Popcicle, he would've just run. Well, not really _run…_he would have assessed his situation and then decided on a strategic retreat until back up arrived—which would be _never_ but no one had to know that.

"Get up and move!" He hissed, blocking another tentacle as the monster decided to try its luck with the least troublesome prey. His arm was throbbing, and his vision was starting to swim—side effects of the poison, was his only guess. "Come on! It's either ShinRa or monster chow—what's it gonna be?"

He had enough time to see the snow covered lump shudder at that before another of the tentacles came out of nowhere and knocked the wind out of him. The bitter chill of the air whistled around him as he went flying, smacking his side against the rocky overhang he'd been using to guard his back. He ended up half buried in the snow, vision blurring as the force of the hit caused his head to snap against the stone. Head injury mixed with poison wasn't going to do him any favors.

Woozily Zack pushed himself up, just in time to see the green wrapped around a limp form, white lab coat easily visible between the green holding him captive. The scientist wasn't even struggling as he was dragged closer to the gaping maw. It could be the cold, or the poison, or maybe the scientist had taken Zack's remark to heart and chosen monster chow.

Was ShinRa so bad that he'd rather be torn apart by those teeth than return?

_Not on my watch._ That was another thing Zack hated, watching people die if he could do something about it.

He searched blindly through the snow. His sword had been knocked from his hand, but it was too heavy to travel far. The cold and wet was seeping through his gloves, and the tips of his fingers were beginning to go numb. Damn the status effects. It seemed forever as he was rooting through the snow before his gloved hand curled around a smooth, glassy surface that could only be materia. It must have been knocked loose from his sword, but at this point it was the only sort of defense he had.

He grabbed it and forced his magic through it, bringing it up to point it toward the monster. He was surprised to find it glowing a bright angry-red in his palm-he didn't _own_ any summon materia.

Usually summons came out with a bang—maybe some lightning or earth-shattering roar or something similar—but this one seemed to be taking its sweet time. The orb was still glowing, and Zack could feel it siphoning away his magic reserves, but the time dilation hadn't kicked into effect yet. The lump of a scientist was still moving closer to the gaping jaws, the snow still fell; the wind still howled—wait.

He could hear the wind, feel it as it sent tiny shards of ice against any exposed skin, but it didn't seem to be doing anything to the snow.

Now that he looked at it, that wasn't really falling and he was starting to doubt it was even snow anymore. The previously icy flakes were taking on a blue tint, and were hanging around the battlefield like the morning mists over the swamps. A mist that seemed to grow exponentially thicker, almost to the point where Zack couldn't see much more than a hulking shape where the green monstrosity was moment ago.

He only hoped this summon slowed down time like most others he'd used otherwise that scientist had long since been monster chow.

Zack tried this arm. He could move, though it was an excruciatingly slow process—too slow to even be a result of the status he'd been afflicted with—and Zack took it as a bright light of hope that he'd gotten the summon off in time to stop the scientist's impending doom. His fingers, unsurprisingly, refused to release the materia despite how hot it was getting. That had to be why they'd invented slots. Zack had never used an unsocketed materia before.

He dragged himself to his feet, inch by agonizing inch. The mist seemed to waiting, and Zack could distinctly feel as if time was holding its breath.

Then it exhaled. He could feel something snap, and Zack nearly toppled over as his limbs felt a thousand times lighter. A huge gust of wind roared through the silence, gathering the mist together and up. It consolidated into a shape that Zack could only liken to the wolves that hung around the wastelands outside of Midgar, although this one had waaay too many tails. He counted at least five before something distracted him. Out of this cloud came a hand, a clawed hand, followed by an arm, and then a body.

For a summon creature it was surprisingly human, Zack thought in a daze. Maybe he should consider getting Sephiroth some ears and a tail for the next costume party thrown by the company. It might be fun to watch his superior try to fend off the ladies—and a few men at _least_—especially if the general made half as pretty a picture as this.

Zack, unlike many of his fellow SOLDIERS, was very much a fan of the fairest sex; but he could definitely admit his superior was quite the looker—though he'd never admit it out of the sanctity of his own head.

This guy however, was downright gorgeous. That was really the only way to describe it. Taller even then Sephiroth, with a slim, lanky build with just enough tone to hint at muscles but not too much. Sephiroth-length silver hair was somehow easy to see against the backdrop of white snowfields and dissipating mist, ears perched within the strands like a cats, furred a lighter silver, almost white. One swiveled in his direction, though otherwise the summon was examining its claws, not paying him any mind.

With the mist gone Zack could see his target again, and the monster remained frozen in time—and likely would remain that way until the attack was initiated. Messing with summons was messing with a lot of things even the white coats of ShinRa didn't understand. There were _rules_ to them, and they'd been drilled into Zack's head during training. The summon made the first move, and it would always go after the target it was pointed at. Zack hoped this was a single target summon—he needed that scientist back alive.

A movement had Zack's attention swiveling back to the summon. It appeared to be finished with its examination—or not, it was running a hand though its hair now, producing what appeared to be…a flower? It was red as blood and not one he'd ever seen before, held tenderly between clawed fingertips. Head turning, silver waves shifting, and piercing gold bore right through him. Lips pulled back, revealing too sharp canines in a fanged smirk. Zack froze.

_Why is it looking at me!? I'm not the target—That's not what is supposed to happen—_

…_wow. It can _move.

The speed of the motions flared silver hair like a comet's tail, trailing behind and served to mark its path as the summon jumped from frozen tentacle to suddenly unfrozen tentacle, something long and green –where'd the flower go?—and wickedly sharp cut through the massive knot and severed the bunch holding the science geek from the main mass.

Free at last, the monster screamed. It was the predator here, unmatched on the snowy plains it called its home. Its only match were the dragons, and this little bug was no dragon.

Torn and tattered labcoat dropped to the snow, the fall not quite long enough to kill but the guy would be hurting in the morning. And that green whip—which was really the only way to describe it—proceeded to take the monster apart. A slash here took a mess of poisoned tipped limbs out of the fight, and a clawed swipe took out some more.

Soon all that was left was the center mass, lying on the ground, twitching in the snow. The summon stood before the gaping mouth, whip wound in a loop around one hand, the other lowering a clawed finger to green flesh.

With a pitiful moan it began to shrink, green becoming smaller and smaller as it folded in on itself. Zack watched with amazement as it before too small for him to make out, lost in the drifts of snow. The summon bent down—where'd the whip go?—clawed hands drawing something out of the snow—

Aaand Zack suddenly had a face full of silver hair, gold eyes and a fanged smirk.

"Ack!" Zack managed to keep the vocalization to a minimum, taking an involuntary step back that led to a wobbly near tumble. This was going against everything he'd learned about offensive summons. They did not interact with anything other than their targets—heck, Zack had never even had one acknowledge his existence other than taking his mana unless it was trying to squash him out of existence.

Without a word—summons didn't talk. Talking would mean they were alive and sentient and _not_ residual memories left behind in materia like the scientists thought and Zack really didn't want to think about _that_ little box of Touch Me frogs—one of the clawed hands touched his chin, tilting it upwards, and Zack didn't dare to move. He'd seen those claws take out a monster that had taken a few swipes with his _sword_ to cut, and they were _right next to his throat—_

He found his gaze caught in amused gold as the face came closer and closer—oh Bahamut's wings was it going to _kiss him!?_

Something touched his lips, but unless the summon felt like a leaf, he'd been quite wrong about what was coming. He opened one eye warily, to see silent laughter in those gold eyes and a strange red-purple leaf in front of his nose. Zack went cross-eyed looking at it, and eliciting a wider smirk.

The leaf was sort of rolled into a half tube, a deep amber liquid rolling down the surface toward his lips. Instincts told him not to trust it, but the warmth radiating from the materia said otherwise.

The moment it slid down his throat, the constricting feeling in his chest loosened. The throbbing in his arm lessened, and all the other status he'd picked up from the monter's Bad Breath seemed to be washed away. A quick glance at his arm revealed that the angry black lines of poison were lightening, returning to healthy pink as he watched.

"Nifty trick, one hit cure all Remedy." Zack muttered, rolling his shoulders and flexing his arms now that those wicked claws weren't directly next to his jugular. The summon was watching him, obviously amused. Then it tilted its head, an ear swiveling to listen to something Zack couldn't hear. A flick of the hair and a cheery wave was all Zack got before it dissolved into blue mist. Zack felt the magic in the materia fade away right before the mist got blown away by the searing cold as the normal weather blasted through.

Brrr…Zack rubbed at his bare arms, searching the snow for his sword. The sword was the was one with Esuna on it, although as soon as he got back he was planning to switch it and Heal to his bracer. Losing it kind of put him in a pickle there. He was just lucky his accessory protected against silence or he would have been screwed there.

The summon materia was still glowing, though it was getting progressively dimmer, and Zack slipped it absently into an empty spot in his bangle. ShinRa's policy with Materia was usually Finder's Keepers except when it came to summons.

* * *

"Oi you damn fox, where the hell did you go?" The first thing he was greeted with was a raging Detective, as per usual. The demons they had been fighting littered the battlefield. Literally in pieces. Hiei must have been unusually agitated today for them to be cut into such small segments. Cool green eyes finished the survey, and landed on the Detective again. Hmm, the truth was rather outrageous even for them, so playing dumb was the best option.

"Whatever do you mean Yuusuke?"

The Detective scoffed, waving his arms around in that excitable way of his, voice getting louder as the words didn't create a reaction.

"One second we were fighting and then BAM, gone. Even HIEI was worried when he couldn't find you with the Jagen."

The fire demon just crossed his arms and grunted, looking anywhere but at him. That was actually rather sweet, and would explain the demon bits. Still, he wasn't even certain what had happened. Momentary delusion, perhaps. It was possible he'd been hit with one of the demon's special abilities.

"I've been here the whole time, Yuusuke. You must have been imagining things." Unperturbed, the redhead ran a hand through his hair, doing a quick inventory of all his seeds. He needed to make sure he hadn't lost any in the scuffle. He was just about to decide on all accounted for when his fingers brushed against an unfamiliar one. Curious, he loosened the roots holding it in place and pulled it out, inspecting it in the fading light.

It shone a dull green, and was slightly prickly to the touch. He prodded it with his youki, the power returning an extremely strong feeling of _poisonous_ and a hunger for flesh that rivaled even that of his death tree.

"Oi Fox, are you even listening to me?"

"Of course." Not really. Tucking it back in his hair, Kurama joined his fellow detectives, all the while thinking back to snow covered plains and that black haired man.

A/N: Yeah. Not dead. This is the first story in a series I've had bouncing around in my brain. Each of the main FFVII characters find a special summon materia. This has been written for a few months now, but I was holding off until I had a full story. I decided it stands alone, and whenever I finish the follow up chapters I'll just add it later.

For those who also have read my other story—FDT—yes I am working on it. I was trying to rewrite it but I'm feeling extremely guilty about not posting or updating for so long that I'm just gonna finish it and then update it later. It's my NaNo project.

The next story in materia-verse—a young Cloud finds a half formed red materia that comes through for him when the world dissolves into flames.


End file.
